Student Athlete Of The Month: Adam Clark

For Adam Clark, balancing his three focal points as a high school student — baseball, academics, and his family — was a task that took some time to develop.

As a senior in 2024-2025, Clark was able to balance those best and shine even more brightly.

The Severna Park graduate finished most of his academic requirements in three years, taking only English and calculus his senior year. That freed him up to focus on baseball and his family, most notably his younger brother Casey, also a Severna Park student.

“The classes I took made me stay on top of studying and getting all of that work in and done. It made senior year lighter, but it was still tough. I couldn’t be checked out of school,” Clark said. “My brother has been doing a speech program outside of school to spell out his thoughts and communicate with us, and he was leaving school early a couple of times a week. It was great that I could go with him early because that’s something that’s really valuable to us.”

Casey Clark, Adam explained, is on the autism spectrum and until recently was largely nonverbal. Being there for his brother, like Casey has been for him at baseball games, was an important part of Adam’s senior year.

“It’s been awesome just learning how intelligent he is and watching him grow throughout the years in his various phases,” Clark said. “He’s my biggest supporter, and I’m his biggest supporter.”

Watching his brother grow up and develop before his eyes is part of what steered Adam Clark toward Severna Park’s chapter of Best Buddies International.

According to its mission statement, Best Buddies is a program geared toward supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in five specific ways: one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development, inclusive living, and family support. Local schools with Best Buddies affiliation lean prominently into the one-to-one friendships between students with and without IDD, and that’s something Clark found naturally because of his relationship with his brother.

“It’s great to see how happy that makes someone,” Clark said. “When you can experience that with a family member firsthand, it feels great also to experience it with other kids that you may not know as well. Brightening their day is just awesome.”

As Clark turns the page on Severna Park High, he expressed gratitude for the community, and the support of students, family, coaches and friends. Some of that he will take with him to Beloit College, where he’ll continue his baseball career alongside fellow Severna Park grad Jackson O’Brien (class of 2024).

O’Brien, as Clark retells it, actually had a lot to do with getting Clark to Beloit.

“I had talked to him a whole bunch about Beloit, and he was saying how much he loved it, and I still was looking for a place to play,” Clark said. “He set me up with the coach, told me to send him an email and film. They invited me out for a visit, and I went with my mom and dad, and we loved it, so it all worked out.”

The Falcons’ leadoff hitter this season hopes his tone-setting mindset and his ability to lead and build community will serve him well not only in his baseball career but in wherever life takes him.

“I had a great time at Severna Park,” Clark said. “What I realized was building as many relationships as you can is the best. Having relationships with everyone and being easy to talk to is important. Being closer to guys on the team, folks in the classroom, even great relationships with the teachers is going to be a big thing.”

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